The present invention pertains to a tennis ball retainer for a tennis court.
In a tennis match on an indoor court when a service return is missed or a ground stroke eludes the defending player, the ball hits the back wall of the court (which is covered with a vinyl backdrop curtain, normally hung from a cable about a foot or more from the wall) and then the ball often rolls back on to the court. This requires the receiver to either pick up the ball, or more often, to roll it towards the back of the court slowly with the hope that it remains close enough to the wall to avoid the hazard of an accident by stepping on the ball during subsequent play.
Another annoying problem is that the balls often escape from the court to an adjacent court, interrupting play on both courts.
The problems of outdoor tennis courts are generally similar to those of indoor courts. The primary difference between indoor and outdoor tennis courts is that the outdoor courts have a chain link fence surrounding them. Further, most outdoor courts do not have mesh curtains between the courts.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a tennis court ball retainer that will receive and retain tennis balls that strike the back wall of the tennis court and provide easy access and retrieval of the collected balls by the players.